"You're quite the baker."

That's what Corey just said to me.

I say it's amazing what talents you can discover within yourself.

Out of necessity.

I am so used to my gifted Mother being around when I'm craving a treat.

"Doesn't salsa sound good?" I ask.

There it is.

In her fridge the next time I go over.

When Corey volunteered me to make salsa for "Customer Appreciation Day,"

I started to call my Mom.

Then I remembered I live in Idaho now.

And she does not.

I'd have to make it myself.

Then Corey says.

"Hey, I signed up for a dessert tomorrow, maybe sugar cookies?"

I called Mother.

Corey left for work the next morning with these in tow.

Last week I tackled My Mother's banana cookie recipe.

And that's when I discovered I have potential to become....

"Quite the baker."

Holla.

Got insurance?

Well somebody in Twin Falls does,

Cause C-dawg just sold his first policy.

Now, for a more important family update.

"I would like you to post on your blog how important I am! Chevron now has Diet Mt. Dew in the fountain. Just for me!!

--Mysti Brown

Way to go Mysti.

We are so proud of you and your Diet Mt. Dew addiction.

Look how excited she is.

Right Now

I am really liking my bedroom.

Maybe almost too much.

I really like the old school clock on Corey's side.

The sitting/reading area on my side.

My lamp is probably my most favorite of all.

My favorite thing about the room is everything (including the chair) was less then $65.

I am becoming quite thrifty.

I am not done yet.

I need curtains.

I need art.

Any ideas?

Dear Elder Garrett

My Brother.

I thoroughly enjoy his emails.

They come every Tuesday now that he is in the field.

I'd like to post a small paragraph from one of his recent happenings.

If there was ever any doubt that Gordon and I are actually blood related, this next excerpt should clear all that up.

We received this from him Tuesday May 26th. Again this is just a snippet of his email. Not the whole thing;

"I am not sure I should even tell this one, because mom might die of a heart attack. I surely hope not because I am telling it anyway. But before I do I guess I should tell you about the people I live with. Their names are the Drown's. They are in an english ward. They are really nice and tell us to eat what we want and when we want. And they kind of get mad if you don't. So that's good. They have a son in Argentina right now. Okay so I wake up one of the days this week and have to go to the bathroom. so I do. I only have to go numero uno, but something is kind of wrong with their toilet I think. So I flush, and the water starts to come up instead of go down. Somehow the toilet was clogged from the night before or something. So anyway I am sitting on the edge of the bathtub praying it doesn't overflow. And it stops like a quarter of an inch before it would get to the point where it would overflow. And thank Heavenly Father, and think about what I am to do now. Cuz i can't plunge it because the water would go everywhere. And I couldn't find the plunger anyways. So the water starts to go down, I start to feel relieved. The water gets all the way down, and I find the plunger. So I'm thinking shoot, now there is no water to plunge with. So I think I got to flush the toilet again, and wait for the water to go down. So I flush. . . and the water is coming up a whole lot faster than it was before, I start praying again. and it gets to the point where it was before, and its still rising. And... it overflowed. Anyway, I ran in and got my companion, with plunger in hand, and we cleaned it up for our work out time. and that is the end of my embarrassing first week story. Sorry it had to do with toilets and stuff. Hopefully you got kick or two out of it. And hopefully you are still breathing. But who knows you guys may not even find it funny. But I am laughing as I am writing."

Oh trust me brother. We find it funny.

I thought only stuff like that happened to me? I would like to point out he says, "I am sitting on the edge of the bathtub praying it doesn't overflow."

I am glad to see he is exercising faith.

When discussing this event later on with Natalie I said;

"Nat, Gordon grew up with 5 sisters. How does he not know how to plunge a toilet?"

"Oh, he knows how." Nat said, "I'm pretty sure he just didn't want to get toilet water on him."

So I took it upon myself to send Elder Garrett a........

"Do it yourself. Don't make your companion help. Plunging kit."

Complete with;

Latex Gloves (for the ultimate hand protection)

Protective Face Masks (as to not breathe in any germs)

Goggles (to protect his handsome eyes)

Rain Poncho (to protect his clothing while knee deep in toilet water)

Drop cloth (guard the bathroom floor so the members continue to feed him)

Shoe Guards (you get the idea)

Last but not least;

Mini Plunger

(for the plunging of the toilet)

The kit wouldn't be complete without this picture of Corey demonstrating the use of the plunger.

Hopefully Elder Garrett finds this as funny as I did.

And hopefully he sends a picture home while wearing all his gear.

Dear Opal,

Do you like my glasses?

They reminded me of you.

I liked them too.

Until they broke and fell off my face yesterday.

Corey says big deal.

I say he doesn't know they cost $140.00.

Thank heavens for that 1 year warranty.

One- upper

My last night in AZ Consisted of tie-dying shirts at Mysti's.

Oh what fun.

Mostly because Mysti got schooled by Nat and I.

I believe at one point she tossed this purple shirt on the counter and exclaimed....

"You always have to one up me Krystle."

I can't quote her exactly because I only speak like a lady.

We had to step in and show her just how it was done.

Rylie wanted in on the fun too.

So she tie-dyed herself this pink onesie.

Good Job baby Ry Ry

Did you have fun?

"Home is where your heart is...

...So your real home's in your chest."

Bailey gets pretty depressed when she sees the suitcase come out.

It sounds ridiculous, but she knows what it means.

I always pack up and then sit with her on the couch before I leave.

It makes me so sad.

I cried the first 40 minutes of my drive.

I was still a little sad as I boarded the airplane.

Going away for a week was not as fun as it used to be.

I've become quite attached to my little home in Idaho.

I end up missing Corey and Bailey,

And I sometimes wonder how much longer I can do this.

Then when I passed through the security gates I was greeted by all of these faces.

I thought my heart was going to jump out of my chest.

And I cried.

I felt really blessed.

I remembered how fun it is to trek it down to Arizona.

I work hard.

But in between working I get to hang out with some special people.

I get to play Apples to Apples with Brooke Ivy and Bryton.

P.S. Ivy Unicorns can be very confusing.

One night I even got to go to dinner with Kara, Aimee, Kenny and Ryan.

We headed back to my house to play a mean game of Rummikub.

Kenny was a bit confused so I allowed him to enlist the 3 best teammates I could think of.

I believe he won twice with the help of these girls.

It's convenient.

I also had pictures of Aimee, Kara and Ryan.

Those pictures were mysteriously deleted.

You know who you are.

How rude.

Tune in tomorrow for the rest of my Arizona adventures.